28 February 2013

Assured Destruction (or, Wheelabrator, Please Stop Making That Awful Noise)



the assured destruction of
her sleep, through the
pluming clouds of steam, billow white,
lofty reminder of all our offal
gone to be rent, particle-fine,
falling through mesh, rejoining
the soil

ashfields, quiet and expansive, a
patch of pale upon the earth,
sequential layers of dross and dreck,
the remains of all our refuse,
ashes to ashes and
dust we are again

and still you wake her, your insistent
whine and hum snaking across the
covers (having already crawled past the
draperies) insufficiently thick to keep
you out, playing about her head….

as if to say: get up, get up, and
finish those last tasks undone by
your blear-eyed sloth, my serried
ranks of valves and engines outrun
you always, belching steamclouds, moaning,
relentlessly, in your ears, here I am

here I am again and again
and again, my force and
fury spent into the air
wreathed round you, a noose
of noise, the pall of an embrace
gone on too long



17 February 2013

Book of Hours



Thomas Bangsted:  Fuhrmann Junction

(He, She, and The River)

She:  So strange, the sky,
the tufts of greengrass
tipped with snow, the
blacktopped highway slickwet
and we on our way to where...
where, tell me again, for I see
all four seasons in the one day
and it unsettles me.

He: We'll see, we'll see where
the next turning takes us; I
don't like the look of that
sky.

She: The street lights, sentinels,
overhang the road, slim,
alien, their heavy heads
crooked over the blankness,
illuminating the way, bulbs
of milky fluorescence graceful,
prepared, on their thin stems,
flowers of industry, to brighten the
path of the factory worker
once on his way to a second
shift, humming his Polish folksongs,
the rhythm of machinery his too.

The River: See how I swell and billow?
It has come to this, that I
break all boundaries; you
neglected me, now I assail
you, the land has been
cleared out, you all seek
the safety of higher ground.
No matter. Wherever you are
I shall reach you in time.  I
am patient, my silence
grown to a roar,

He:  Still, we can see the sun
straining to penetrate these
clouds, remember the familiar
marking of our hours ticking past,
the shadows long upon
the ground, burning away
fog

The flowers, too, engendered from
the earth, marked down in
our book of hours--they are
no more

She:  Did I lock the door?  Did I leave
the kettle on the boil?  I
can't remember, and my tulips,
what will become of them?  (Planted,
as they were, in careful circles: fleshpink,
goldyellow, bloodred.)  No matter, now, I
suppose.  Let us see what is
beyond the next turning.

He:  So many times we saw that
sign in better days, off to
sail for a day, the celebration
of a Christening, heading north
for a holiday, and now, where?
We have no charted path,
but still must carry on until
the end.

The River:  Simple humans, to
think you can escape my
grasp--even now I approach.

He and She:  With our hands joined we go
forward always, no glancing
backward at past faults, the
thin geologies broken down to furnish
gravel for a garden, the
stripping of the soil, the
fields which should have been
left to lie fallow--these smart, now,
spurring us on to find that
final, unspoiled place

06 February 2013

WORDS THAT PAINT at the HVCCA in Peekskill, NY


WORDS THAT PAINT: THE NEW HUDSON VALLEY SCHOOL IN POETRY AND PROSE at the HVCCA in Peekskill, NY
WORDS THAT PAINT:
THE NEW HUDSON VALLEY SCHOOL IN POETRY AND PROSE

Location:
HUDSON VALLEY CENTER for CONTEMPORARY ART

PERFORMANCE DATES & TIMES:
Thurs., Feb. 14th: 7pm
Sat., Feb 16th 2013: 2pm
Sat., Feb 16th 2013: 4pm
Sun., Feb. 17th 2013: 2pm

Please note: due to the size of the space and the footprint of the works of art, the audience is limited to 25 per performance. Please purchase your tickets in advance.


“WORDS THAT PAINT: The New Hudson Valley School in Poetry and Prose” is a collaborative art experience brought to you by HVCCA and Director Mara Mills. Writers from throughout the region were invited to visit the current exhibition at HVCCA, and then submit short plays or poems inspired by works of art. The resulting works were juried and assembled into this theatrical performance.

Writers include: Donna Barkman, Jo Ann Clark, Jim Dirlam, Barbara Fischer, Ruth D. Handel, Tony Howarth, Deborah Maier, Karen Marie Marmer, MaryAnn McCarra-Fitzpatrick, Alicia Morgan, Loretta Oleck, Susan Schefflein, Marc J. Straus, and Bob Zaslow.

HVCCA provides the backdrop in which the writers read their creations, with professional actors adding their voices for the multi-voice works, in full view of the artwork that inspired the words. The audience will move through the space as the narrative unfolds, adding a dynamic component. This is the fourth collaboration with Director Mara Mills following the successful “Size Matters: Image and Script” (2008), “The Form of Matter” (2009) and “The Ides of March” (2012).

Admission: $12 members, $15 non-members.
(If you are purchasing two or more tickets and would like to qualify for the member’s price, please take advantage now and register on line to become a member of the HVCCA family.)

You may reserve now with credit card or check: call 914-788-0100 or kellis@hvcca.org, mail or fax the form below, or click the link to purchase tickets through Eventbrite.


WORDS THAT PAINT:
THE NEW HUDSON VALLEY SCHOOL IN POETRY AND PROSE

Choose Show Date: 2/14: 7pm | 2/16: 2pm | 2/16: 4pm | 2/17: 2pm


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HVCCA Members: $12
Non-members: $15

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Grand Total: $ ________


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For more information, please contact Katrina Ellis, kellis@hvcca.org


Museum Hours:
Friday 11-5pm
Saturday & Sunday 12-6pm
Tuesday - Thursday by appt.


HUDSON VALLEY CENTER for CONTEMPORARY ART
1701 Main Street|PO BOX 209|Peekskill, NY 10566
914.788.0100 |www.hvcca.org|info@hvcca.org